Florida Mission Holds Out Hope For Couple

June 13, 2001|By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez Orlando Sentinel

ARITAO, Philippines — Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, who have worked in the Philippines since 1985 for the New Tribes Mission in Sanford, Fla., are at the center of an unfolding international hostage crisis.

The Wichita, Kan., couple were among a group of hostages seized on May 27 from a resort on the remote southern island of Palawan where the Burnhams were celebrating their 18th anniversary with a weekend getaway.

Their captors, a guerrilla group called Abu Sayyaf, want a Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines. On Tuesday the guerrillas, who hold as many as 20 hostages, claimed they had beheaded a third American, tourist Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif., and have threatened to kill more unless the government gives in to their demands for negotiations.

For missionaries who have worked with the Burnhams -- and who, like the couple, have lived overseas most of their lives -- it is hard to fathom that two of their colleagues are involved in a high-stakes hostage ordeal.

Co-workers who live with the Burnhams, in a village compound near the foothills of the Cordillera Central mountain range in the northern Nueva Vizcaya province, say they are numb and in hopeful prayer.

The abduction has heightened the sense of vulnerability and insecurity among the 179 New Tribes missionaries scattered across the Philippine archipelago,.

Because of the incident, New Tribes leaders ordered the evacuation of several members from the island of Palawan and shuffled missionaries from different offices to help out with administrative duties during the hostage crisis.

The mission also has evacuated the Burnhams' family -- their three children as well as Martin Burnham's sister and her husband -- to the United States to wait out the crisis

Several missionaries in the Philippines say the Burnhams' fate, along with the others', is in God's hands, no matter what.

"God's in control. I don't know if Abu Sayyaf knows that or not," said Lynn Burggraf, a native of Barrington, Ill.

If anyone can withstand the pressure and stress of such a situation, the Burnhams can, fellow missionaries said.

"They're a lot better prepared for what they're going through than others would be," said Jason Birkin, a native of Whangarea, New Zealand, who has worked in missions in the Philippines with his wife, Shirley, since 1980.

Martin Burnham, the oldest of five children of still-active New Tribes missionaries in the Philippines, arrived in the country at the age of 11. His parents, who were on furlough in Rose Hill, Kan., when their son was kidnapped, keep a home in the neighboring province of Bengue.

Martin Burnham's ease with tribal languages -- there are more than 75 identified ethnic groups and 80 dialects -- and understanding of Filipino culture made him a vital New Tribes member who helped new arrivals settle in distant outposts.

His work involved frequent travel around this country of more than 7,000 islands. His wife's duties included operating the high-frequency radio network the missionaries use to stay in contact and acting as the compound's hostess.

Taped above the radio in the Burnham kitchen are pictures of the three New Tribes missionaries kidnapped in Panama in 1993 and never seen since.

Gracia Burnham, a pastor's daughter, met her future husband while attending Bible college in Kansas. They married in 1983 and moved to the Philippines two years later.

She wanted to surprise her husband for their wedding anniversary on that last weekend in May. She booked a one-night stay at the Dos Palmas beach resort while he returned from a trip to the United States.

She made arrangements to have somebody look after their three children when she left Aritao the day before his arrival in Manila. The Burnhams hadn't seen each other in weeks when she picked him up from the airport early on May 26; they then left for Palawan, in the southern Philippines.

"I think she wanted to surprise him, and I said to her, `Oh, what a good idea. Go for it!' "Burggraf said. "We all knew she needed time alone with Martin."

The day after the early-morning raid by the Abu Sayyaf guerillas, a group of women missionaries mustered enough courage to go into the Burnhams' home and gather the children to tell them the terrible news.

"They understood there was something wrong with Mommy and Daddy, but they were not sure what it was," said Judy Ambrosius, who along with her husband, Bob, has known Martin Burnham since he was a boy.

The children -- Jeff, 14, Mindy, 11, and Zach, 10 -- were picked up by their aunt and uncle, who are also missionaries, and left for the United States, New Tribes officials said.

"This is home to them. They didn't want to leave here," Burggraf said.

The New Tribes missionaries hope to have Martin and Gracia back soon.

But even if the calm returns, their colleagues know the traumatic experience and its aftermath will forever change the Burnhams and their close-knit community.

"It's never going to be the same," Burggraf said, "even if Martin and Gracia come back here."